Muramasa (Zanpakuto Spirit)
Muramasa '''is a Zanpakuto spirit with the power to release other Zanpakuto spirits from their owners. He was the orchestrator of the Zanpakuto Rebellion incident. Background Physical Appearance Muramasa is a tall, thin man with pale skin and shaggy, dark brown hair, two bangs of which cross over the bridge of his nose. His turquoise-colored eyes are circled by spiked purple ovals. He possesses long fingernails, but they were much shorter before his long separation from his master. Muramasa wears a long, white, robe-like coat. The collar of the robe is covered with a thick fur, featuring a purple ascot fastened by a ruby brooch. Muramasa wears a wide sash at his waist, decorated by a purple stripe. He wears boots with pointed tips, and has purple manacles on his wrists. His fingers make a clacking sound whenever he curls or uncurls them. Throughout the Zanpakuto Rebellion, the countless Hollows which Muramasa absorbed converge and slowly tear him apart from the inside, gradually causing various physical effects to his being. In earlier stages, his eyes shed tears of blood, but later glass over, filled with blood completely. In more extreme cases, he becomes physically sick and weak, even becoming transparent at some points. Personality While acting as the leader of the Zanpakuto Spirits, Muramasa does not tolerate protest from any of his subordinates, simply freezing them in place with his Spiritual Threads in order to silence them. He is always calm, polite, and eloquent when speaking to others, even his enemies. He pretends to have the best interests of the other Zanpakuto Spirits in mind, and repeatedly asserts the "tyrannical reign" of the Soul Reapers over their Zanpakuto Spirits will end with the Zanpakuto spirits ruling over the Shinigami. He holds some respect for the Thirteen Court Guard Squads captains because of their ability to control their powerful Zanpakuto Spirits. Muramasa claims his goal is to release all Zanpakuto Spirits from their masters because all Zanpakuto Spirits have their own free will and do not have to live alongside the Soul Reapers. He asserts the Zanpakuto Spirits are willing to join him because their Soul Reapers masters have been oppressing them for a long time, and is not above using his enemies to further his plans, such as when he used Rukia Kuchiki, Hinata Hyuga, Asami Sato, and Amy Rose to lure Ichigo Kurosaki, Naruto Uzumaki, Avatar Korra, and Sonic the Hedgehog to Soul Society in order to free Ichigo's Zangetsu. Muramasa claims he willingly killed his master, and is very confident in his own power, asserting it is far greater than Ichigo's when the latter challenges him. He takes a special interest in Ichigo, Naruto, Korra, and Sonic after the Ichigo's inner Hollow takes control of him during their battle and Naruto unleashed his Tailed Beast while Korra entered the Avatar State and Sonic awakened his dark half, and is intrigued by the existence of Hollow Ichigo. Even after Hollow Ichigo attacks him, Muramasa still tries to free him, only deciding to destroy him once Hollow Ichigo makes clear his intention to stand in Muramasa's way. He proclaims Hollow Ichigo is "expendable" because he does not possess the power which he seeks, and is confused by Ichigo's protection of Hollow Ichigo because it is not something which a Soul Reaper would do. He admits he did not intend to become so invested in a single Soul Reaper when he began his mission, and is fascinated by the bond between Ichigo and Zangetsu being the source of Ichigo's strength. He later claims he, Ichigo, Naruto, Korra, and Sonic are linked to one another. He respects Byakuya Kuchiki for defeating Sode no Shorayuki the group of Zanpakuto Spirits by asserting he plays a crucial role in their plan, but claims it pains him greatly to know Zanpakuto Spirits are being hurt in order to achieve his objective. He claims he, Ichigo, Naruto, Korra, and Sonic are destined to cross blades and fists, which he uses to goad Ichigo, Naruto, Korra, and Sonic into using their full power. However, Muramasa's true goal all along was to gain access to Captain-Commander Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto's mind and his Zanpakuto Spirit, Ryujin Jakka, and he orchestrated the entire Zanpakuto Rebellion in order to reach this goal. Once he drops the facade of leading the Zanpakuto Spirits to freedom, Muramasa is much more cold and callous toward the other Zanpakuto Spirits, having Ryujin Jakka incinerate Katen Kyokotsu and Sogyo no Kotowari when they attack him. Muramasa's ultimate goal is to free his master, Koga Kuchiki, who is still alive, but was imprisoned long ago. He is willing to go to great lengths in order to achieve this goal, including attacking Orihime Inoue, Ino Yamanaka, and Cream the Rabbit on sight without any provocation. However, Orihime notes he is in great emotional pain. In battle, he is merciless, nearly choking Yasutora "Chad" Sado to death for getting in his way. However, when Orihime points out how he is burdened with a great sadness, Muramasa momentarily lets his guard down, revealing how tired and sad he really is, though he almost immediately regains his composure and is angered by Orihime trying to understand him. He admits his only wish is to free Koga. Before Koga was sealed, Muramasa was very supportive of him, and would frequently encourage Kōga when he doubted himself or his power. He asserted their power came from their trust in each other, and would often remind Koga of how powerful he was. When Koga was arrested on false charges, Muramasa encouraged him to use his power to change the world in order to suit himself. Once Koga obtained his revenge, Muramasa encouraged him to leave the past behind and create a better world. However, as Koga slid further and further into madness, Muramasa began to question him and his actions, leading to their bond being severed. Despite this and Koga's abusive actions toward him, Muramasa states he would have come to Koga's aid had he heard his voice, which he was unable to hear, and spent years working toward freeing him. Even after Koga betrays him and tries to kill him, Muramasa is still willing to fight for Koga. It is only when Koga snaps his sealed Zanpakuto in two and proclaims he does not need him that Muramasa finally loses control and allows his despair to overwhelm him. Rukia notes Muramasa put his very existence at risk for Koga's sake by absorbing so many Hollows. However, Muramasa is strong-willed enough to fight the Hollows within him and momentarily regain control of his body after transforming into a Hollow hybrid in order to maintain his Zanpakuto identity, which he takes great pride in. Even after Koga dies, Muramasa continues to fight Ichigo within Koga's inner world in order to absorb Ichigo's power and nourish himself with it. He eventually reveals he is still fighting because he was incredibly proud of Kōga and his power, and because he wanted Kōga to appreciate him at least once. However, Muramasa admits his goal of having Kōga appreciate him was hard to attain and would not have lasted for very long had he achieved it. Eventually, Muramasa realizes he can hear Ichigo's voice, and considers it ironic that he can do so. After being defeated, Muramasa finally experiences the happiness of having someone truly connect with and understand him. History Powers and Abilities *Immense Spiritual Power - As the Zanpakuto Spirit of an extremely powerful Shinigami, Muramasa possesses an enormous amount of Reiryoku. He managed to startle and intimidate Ichigo Kurosaki (who was in his Bankai at the time), Naruto Uzumaki, Avatar Korra, and Sonic the Hedgehog, by simply exerting his Reiatsu. He fought evenly against a Bankai- and occasionally Hollow mask-enhanced Ichigo, as well as a Kurama Chakra Mode (and sometimes Kurama Sage Mode)-enhanced Naruto Uzumaki, a Zenkai-enhanced Avatar Korra, and a Speed Aura-enhanced Sonic the Hedgehog, on three separate occasions. Even while weakened, Muramasa can effortlessly destroy dozens of Gillians. Orihime Inoue notes his Reiatsu is very similar to an Arrancar's. While Muramasa's Reiatsu is initially purple, it later turns red and turns black-red soon afterward, due to the influence of the Hollows within him; however, it later turns dark blue after Muramasa rids himself of all the Hollows within his body. Muramasa can use his Reiryoku for two unique effects: **Spiritual Threads - Muramasa can create invisible spiritual threads with hands on their ends, which he can manipulate to bind and immobilize his target. He can also use these threads to strangle his opponent. While invisible to the naked eye, these threads can be seen in reflections, such as those of windows or water. If the reflection is distorted, the threads will disappear. Additionally, the threads will dissipate if Muramasa loses his focus on his target, as demonstrated when they disappeared due to him coughing violently. **Illusions - Muramasa can distort his target's five senses, preventing them from perceiving things clearly. By looking into the target's soul, Muramasa can use the target's memories against them by creating a powerful illusion to distract and torment the target, such as when he recreated Yasutora "Chad" Sado's hometown in Mexico in order to lure him into a false sense of security. He can also use this ability to create clones of himself in combat in order to confuse his opponent. However, these illusions can be bypassed if the target's Zanpakuto Spirit has experienced and been freed from Muramasa's mind control powers and can properly detect his Reiatsu. Additionally, they cannot affect a target if they are blocked by another force, such as Orihime's Santen Kesshun. *Master Swordsman Specialist - Muramasa possesses incredible skill in swordsmanship, always fighting with only one hand on his sword and rarely displaying any effort in his attacks. He fought evenly against a Bankai- and occasionally Hollow Mask-enhanced Ichigo, who is a master swordsman himself, on three separate occasions. His skill in swordsmanship can even match the hand-to-hand and/or close-range bending combat skills of a Kurama Chakra-enhanced Naruto, a Zenkai-enhanced Korra, and a Speed Aura-enhanced Sonic, who are expert combatants themselves, on those same three occasions. He kept up with and easily countered the fast and aggressive attacks of Hollow Ichigo during their short fight. *Enhanced Strength - Muramasa possesses a considerable amount of physical strength. He can pick up and hold a human-sized Hollow with a single hand. He easily held back and cut through a Bankai-enhanced Getsuga Tensho from Ichigo, and later managed to hold off and deflect an exceedingly more powerful Bankai- and Hollow mask-enhanced Getsuga Tensho from the same individual. He can also deflect a combined attack of a Bankai- and Hollow Mask-enhanced Getsuga Tensho, a senjutsu-enhanced Tailed Beast Bomb fired from Naruto, an Zenkai-enhanced Fire Stream attack from Korra, and a Sonic Aura Cannon fired from a Speed Aura-enhanced Sonic, all at the same time, and even combined with his own immense spiritual pressure. He incapacitated Chad, a very strong and enduring combatant, with a single punch. Even while weakened, Muramasa is strong enough to cut through and disperse considerably powerful energy attacks like Hado 33. Sokatsui and Eight Trigrams Air Palm with a single slash of his sword. *Enhanced Speed - Muramasa is a very fast combatant, easily keeping up with Ichigo, a Shunpo expert (and even using his Bankai to increase his speed), as well as Naruto, a Taijutsu expert using high-speed movements, Korra, using her bending and Zenkai to augment her speed, and Sonic, the World's Fasted Hedgehog, during all three of their fights. During his battle against Hollow Ichigo in Ichigo's inner world, Muramasa successfully dodged all of Hollow Ichigo's unpredictable, long-range, flail-like attacks with his sword. *Enhanced Durability - Muramasa is a considerably durable combatant, remaining uninjured after blocking a Bankai-enhanced '''Getsuga Tensho with a single hand. *Enhanced Endurance - Despite constantly growing weaker because of the influence of the Hollows within him, Muramasa manages to fight evenly against nearly every opponent he faces, including those wielding Bankai, Tailed Beasts, Kekkei Genkai, and Zenkai, and can do so for extended periods of time. *Keen Intellect - Muramasa is a very crafty and cunning individual. When Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto created a powerful barrier to prevent Muramasa from reaching him, Muramasa staged the Zanpakuto Rebellion and successfully manipulated the events therein to lure Ichigo, Naruto, Korra, and Sonic to the cave of the Zanpakuto Spirits and make all four of them to destroy the barrier for him to make his goal much easier. *Zanpakuto Spirit Manifestation - Muramasa can enter the inner world of a Shinigami and bend their Zanpakuto Spirit to his will. This is done by removing the energy stability between a Shinigami and their Zanpakuto Spirit, who is left confused and has its negative emotions forcibly released by Muramasa. A manifested spirit of a weaker Shinigami is typically a tangible, shadowy figure, but manifests with greater individuality and power from stronger Shinigami. Initially, a Shinigami whose Zanpakuto Spirit has been manifested is left unable to release their Shikai, though they can overcome this by strengthening their resolve. However, as long as their Zanpakuto Spirit is manifested and under the influence of Muramasa's brainwashing, a Shinigami at the level of a captain cannot perform Bankai until their Zanpakuto Spirit returns to them. The only way for a manifested Zanpakuto Spirit to be freed from Muramasa's brainwashing and return to its Shinigami is for its owner to defeat it. However, if someone other than the manifested Zanpakuto Spirit's owner defeats them, they will revert to their sword form, which will snap in two afterward, and remain unable to manifest, effectively dying, though Mayuri Kurotsuchi eventually discovers a way to restore the Zanpakuto Spirits who were defeated in this way. Yamamoto likens this power to a tapeworm. The only way for a Zanpakuto Spirit to resist this power is to have experienced it before and know Muramasa's voice, allowing them to resist its influence. Additionally, Muramasa can use this power to manifest himself into the real world, which he did in order to rescue Koga Kuchiki. **Methods - Though he can manifest several Zanpakuto Spirits at once by emitting purple energy from his eyes, which causes nearby Zanpakuto to glow blue and release their spirits, Muramasa can also personally draw out a Zanpakuto Spirit from a Shinigami by reaching into their chest and pulling out a thread of their Reiatsu while speaking directly to the Zanpakuto Spirit in question, after which the Zanpakuto Spirit will manifest in the real world. This process will cause a Shinigami wielding their Bankai to instantly revert to their Shikai. Additionally, while inside the inner world of a Shinigami, Muramasa can draw out their Zanpakuto Spirit by trapping the Shinigami within an illusion in which they see Muramasa's Spiritual Threads extending from a hole in their chest. When the Shinigami's resolve breaks from the perceived pain of this illusion, their Zanpakuto Spirit will manifest within their inner world while wearing a black cloak, which crumbles away. After this, Muramasa can proceed with brainwashing the Zanpakuto Spirit. The latter two methods are both very painful to the Shinigami in question. *Kekkei Genkai, Specialized Bending, Zenkai, and Awakening Aura Sealing **Methods *Garganta - Muramasa can open jagged-edged Garganta at will. He used this ability to move from the Forest of Menos to Soul Society. *Teleportation - Muramasa can teleport to other locations at will by dissolving into green light and reforming in another area. He can use this ability to travel between realms, such as when he teleported from Soul Society to the Forest of Menos. *Hollow Absorption - To make up for the lack of his Shinigami master, Muramasa is forced to rely on absorbing Hollows in order to remain materialized in the real world. When he absorbs a Hollow, a portion of Muramasa's strength proportionate to the Hollow's power is restored for a considerable amount of time. However, Muramasa notes his body is not accustomed to absorbing Hollows with large amounts of Reiryoku, such as Vasto Lordes. **Hollow Manifestation Zanpakuto The sealed form of Muramasa's Zanpakuto takes the form of a standard-sized katana with a purple hilt. Its crossguard consists of a circle with a pentagon-like shape in the center and three evenly-spaced points protruding from the edges. Muramasa's manifestation of his Zanpakuto is accompanied by a large rune appearing in front of him, followed by a burst of flame-shaped blue Reiatsu emanating from his sword as it appears. *Energy Wave - Muramasa can unleash powerful waves of energy with his sword. By stabbing his sword into the ground, he can send lines of blue energy surging across the ground, which rises up in pillared sections, in order to elevate himself and others. Hollow Powers Hollow Form - Driven to absolute despair from being rejected by Koga, Muramasa finally broke down, releasing all the Hollows he had absorbed to help sustain his life. Shortly afterwards, Muramasa's unstable energy sucked all the Hollows back into him, resulting in a horrific Hollowfication. In this form, Muramasa gains bone-like armor, complete with long shoulder-pads and a helmet-like mask with long horns, large teeth on its lower edges, and a visor-shaped eyehole, through which his glowing red eyes can be seen. He has tufts of gray fur around his neck and collarbone, and his arms become long and slender, with long, curved blades sticking out from his elbows. His Hollow hole is located where his heart would be, and has dozens of fang-like, inward-pointing protrusions around it. He has a large amount of purple fur hanging from his waist. *Enhanced Spiritual Power *Enhanced Strength *Enhanced Speed *Enhanced Durability *High-Speed Regeneration *Cero *Bala Relationships Former Friends *Koga Kuchiki (Former Shinigami master) Enemies *The Thirteen Court Guard Squads *Genryusai Shigekuni Yamamoto *Team Naruto *Team Ichigo *Team Korra *Team Sonic *Hollow Ichigo *Dark Korra Former Enemies *Ichigo Kurosaki *Naruto Uzumaki *Avatar Korra *Sonic the Hedgehog Theme Songs * Background in Other Media * Quotes * Trivia * Battles and Events Events Battles See Also * Category:Characters Category:Villains Category:Males Category:Zanpakuto Spirits Category:Advanced Captain-class Fighters Category:Naruto, Bleach, Korra, and Sonic: Project Storm Playable Characters Category:Master Swordsmen Specialists Category:Major Characters Category:Leaders/Commanders